I'm Juicing

Duh, duh, du-du-duh, dun, dun, duh, duh, dun, duuuun. Duuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Finally, a run! I busted out 30 minutes of straight up running this morning and it felt really good, even if it was on the treadmill. I put my incline a little lower than normal, because I wanted to be able to finish, and I didn't do any walking intervals. I ran at a pace of 10:30 min/mile with a several 9:00 min/mile intervals to mix it up. My legs didn't feel heavy and I actually felt really energized. I am still convinced that I am just making up excuses, but maybe I really did need some nutrients.

I think writing everything out, really helped me to focus on what needed to be done. After reading over my list from yesterday's blog, I realized that I needed to just shut up, and do it. This little bloggy really does help me with staying on track. :)

When we got home from work yesterday, I immediately started on dinner. I really wanted to get to bed early last night, so I figured the quicker we could get done, the better chance I got to bed early. I made Joy the Baker's Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos again, since we had some slaw leftover from last time. We had gotten some mushrooms from our produce delivery box and I didn't want them to go bad, so I added some to the black beans. Nothing like a little added protein. The tacos were just as good as last time! 

I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, how I thought maybe I needed to add some nutrients into my diet. Maybe that is the reason I have been so sleepy and unmotivated lately. So I decided to dust off the old juicer.

RIP Jack, thanks for the power juicer

Our fruit and veggie drawers have been packed full lately, with all of the produce deliveries we have gotten. We go through the veggies pretty quick, but are having some trouble with the fruit. I am not a fan of bringing citrus fruit with me to work. It is messy and annoying to eat, so I would rather just bring a pear or apple to eat whole. I mostly just had oranges and carrots on hand but, I added in some apples and celery for good measure.

When I juice, I do not use a recipe. I pretty much just start throwing things into the juicer and taste as I go. If it is too sweet, I throw in a veggie, if it is too veggie tasting, I throw in some fruit. I made Mike and I each a glass of orange, apple, carrot and celery juice to have this morning before we left for work. After we cleaned up the dishes (which is probably the worst part about the juicer), we headed to bed.

I fell asleep really quickly last night and woke up at 5 already feeling refreshed. When I woke up again at 6:20, to leave for the gym, I was in good spirits. I drank my juice on the car ride to the gym, and definitely felt energized. It is pretty sad that when I came downstairs to leave this morning, Mike's first words to me were "Oh, you aren't bringing a pillow and blanket for the car ride?" haha.

I plan on making another batch tonight for tomorrow morning and hope to get another good cardio work out in, along with arms and abs.

Mike is giving dry beans another try today, so he soaked some white beans all night and then threw them in the crock pot this morning. I hope they turn out good because I am really excited to make some rosemary braised white beans tonight. As long as they do, I will post the recipe tomorrow!

Recent Eats:

Leftover Spicy Pineapple Chicken and Rice

Energy Ball

Have a good day!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (-) 9
Sodium (+) 369
Protein (+) 4

The Return of Dry Beans

Apparently my failed attempts at making dry beans made it to one of Mike's colleagues, Anne, who made a few suggestions. I have always tried the "quick soak" method which involves boiling the dry beans for 1 hour with the lid on, and then cooking per normal instructions. The "long soak" method involves leaving your beans in water overnight, and then cooking them in a crock pot all day. Anne told Mike that she has had success doing the long soak before so we decided to give it a try.

Mike took over this task since I had given up. He followed Anne's instructions and let the beans soak in water over night after rinsing them off. The next day, he drained the water, rinsed them off, and then put them in the slow cooker. He added water to cover all the beans and then left them on low all day. At the end of the day, they were soft and moist, perfect for seasoning of any kind.

I split them up into several glass containers and we have been using them in all kinds of dishes. We just dump them in a pan, add our seasonings and some water, and heat up. Perfect. Thanks, Anne, for bringing the dry beans back into our life! I have bags of pinto and white beans that I plan to try out next. :)

Yesterday Eats
For lunch yesterday, I had some leftover roasted vegetables and a greek yogurt.

Before heading into the hospital, I shoved a peanut butter sandwich in my mouth and then ate an energy ball  when I got out of work. By the way, while I was making a batch of energy balls last weekend, I decided to calculate the calories, sodium, and protein old school style to make sure I was getting the right information. I made one batch which left me with around 18 individual energy balls.  After my calculations, I came out with 113 calories per ball with 2 g of protein and 23 mg of sodium in each one. That is really not bad for a before the gym or mid morning snack. At least now we know. :)

Gym Time

Today, I made it to the gym (yawning) and did a full leg work out. Since I wasn't very sore from my 7 exercises last week, I decided to up my reps a little. I did all 7 leg exercises with 10 reps instead of 8. I usually try to go low on the reps with legs, since I am usually paying for it the next few days, but hopefully with a good stretch, I will be alright.

In case you are interested in what I did:

• Lunges - across the group fitness room, 3 sets of 10 using 15 lbs weight in each hand
• Squats - 3 sets of 10 using 40 lbs on the bar
• Leg Press - 3 sets of 10 with 90 lbs weights added
• Backwards leg curl (you know the thing where you lay on your stomach and bring your feet to your butt?) - 3 sets of 10 - 45 lbs weight
• Thigh and Glueteal Curls (sitting machine where you either extend your legs straight or bend them down) - 3 sets of 10 each - 50 lbs weight
• Calf raises - 3 sets of 15, start with feet pointing in a 90 degree angle, raise up on calves slowly, hold for 5-10 seconds, lower back down slowly. 

Then I did 3 30 second planks on the balance ball - these things are NO JOKE!- and side bends with 15 lbs weights. I got in a 10 minute stretch for my legs and called it a day. 

I hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Yesterday's Stats:
Calories (+) 139
Sodium (-) 1019 (!!!!!!!! as I am sure my calculator is a little off, that is still awesome!!!!)
Protein (-) 7